1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a manual paper management system and more particularly to the means for laying out the particular configuration of a paper management system, the hardware to construct and realize a finished paper management system, and a method for paper management.
In professional, industrial, business, and other types of offices, one problem which has plagued the operation of such offices is the rehandling of documents which are in the "active" state, i.e. documents that are being used and worked on but need temporary storage, and which occurs when such documents need to be located for processing. Those documents that have an active status are typically grouped together in a letter tray, or at a particular area of a work surface, and such grouping requires the user to scan the entire quantity of documents in order to find the one relevant at the time. This rehandling of already handled paper represents wasted production time. Thus, there is a need for a physical paper handling system which eliminates wasteful re handling of paper and which promotes functional convenience over structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various paper organization and management systems and the hardware with which to implement these systems are known in the art. For example, Myers U.S. Pat. No. 3,178,029 describes a card file for holding various size packs of cards on readily adjustable and arrangeable shelves. A back wall, at least 2 vertical side walls, and one or more intermediate or divider side walls can be arranged between the outer side walls to form several open compartments for cards. A variety of card supports or shelves can be mounted in various arrangements between the opposed side walls of the card file compartments.
Hodges U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,475 shows a paper handling system in which trays are suspended on a support panel. Trays with bottom, back, and side walls, are hung from slots in a support panel. Hodges also claims a rigid insert sheet member for providing greater surface area of his paper trays.
Klein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,853 relates to a convertible desk top organizer. This organizer requires vertical side panels and corner trays, and shelves having slots for dividers which engage the slots.
Tyson U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,864 relates to a document handling system in which a plurality of trays of different configurations is supported on a backing panel. Tyson discloses trays having back walls and bottom walls inclined upwardly from the horizontal, so that papers placed in the trays will slide towards the back wall. Tyson also claims generally J-shaped trays, at least some of which having different widths and heights being equal to multiples of a height module.
Although the organizer and management systems known in the art each have particular useful applications, they also exhibit some shortcomings. They are generally cumbersome and complex, making construction tiresome. Their physical appearance typically emphasizes structure over function, and no simple means are disclosed for the convenient layout of a system prior to the acquisition of the hardware itself.